


Traitor in the Midst

by red_sus



Series: The Imposters Among Us [1]
Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Murder Mystery, dad of two, green is the crewmate we want but never get, imposter crewmate friendship, the skeld, we love dad of two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27126358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_sus/pseuds/red_sus
Summary: “Attention ladies and gentlemen,” the PA system blared. Blue blinked sleep from his eyes. What was going on?“It has been brought to my attention that this crew has been… infiltrated… by alien enemies.” Blue stared, making eye contact with Green from the other side of the dropship. Everyone on the dropship knew this voice. It was impossible not to.Blue glanced over to his kids. Thankfully, they were asleep. He checked his tablet again.1 hrs 1 mins to Skeld“AI indicates the presence of three imposters among you. Based on previous interactions, these imposters will try to fit in with the group, but do not let this fool you. They are brutal, bloodthirsty monsters who will kill you at the first chance they get. If you find one of these impost-” The PA system crackled out.The dropship was silent for a few seconds.Then chaos ensued.With that begins the perilous maintenance mission on the Skeld. Can the crew find and defeat the imposters before they're all sentenced to a grisly death?*Note: This story is pretty much following the lines of a typical game It's not really romance, but I do plan on developing friendships between the characters.*
Series: The Imposters Among Us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983646
Comments: 9
Kudos: 47





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! thanks for checking out my story. it's my first one so i hope it's ok :) it's pretty much going to be like a typical among us game (or at least what it would be like without people leaving if they aren't imposter, lol) and i plan to write it so there's a mystery about who the imposter really is for the reader. it'll probably be obvious but ima try anyway. i'll try to update quickly but it might be hard with my schedule. anyway, i hope yall enjoy it and support dad of two for life!

Blue slid forward against the seat belt as the dropship undocked. He told himself he shouldn’t be nervous. After all, it was just routine maintenance. He’d done this hundreds of times, maybe thousands before. Nothing to worry about. Right?

Blue looked to the seat beside him, where one of his two sons was idly kicking his feet up and down. He smiled, the childish behavior giving him a much-needed distraction. Looking around the ship, Blue could see there were at least four others with children. That made him feel a little less guilty about dragging them along. Then again, there weren’t ever that many options to begin with.

His wife left three years ago, wanting nothing to do with him or the kids. Blue laughed to himself. His kids were the best part of that godforsaken marriage. 

“Daddy, are we almost there?” his other son asked, tugging on the sleeve on his spacesuit. Blue brought up the menu on his tablet. 

7 hrs 32 mins to Skeld

“No. It’ll be awhile. Why don’t you take a nap in the meantime?” he said, sighing internally. Much as he loved his kids, they could be a handful. A mildly annoying handful. 

“But I’m not tired,” came the reply. Blue leaned his head back against the seat. It was going to be a long seven and a half hours. 

~~~

“Attention ladies and gentlemen,” the PA system blared. Blue blinked sleep from his eyes. What was going on?

“It has been brought to my attention that this crew has been… infiltrated… by alien enemies.” Blue stared, making eye contact with Green from the other side of the dropship. Everyone on the dropship knew this voice. It was impossible not to. 

“Is he joking?” Green asked.

“I’ve never met the head of MIRA before, but I don’t think he’s the kind to joke,” Blue replied. He glanced over to his kids. Thankfully, they were asleep. He checked his tablet again. 

1 hrs 1 mins to Skeld

“AI indicates the presence of three imposters among you. Based on previous interactions, these imposters will try to fit in with the group, but do not let this fool you. They are brutal, bloodthirsty monsters who will kill you at the first chance they get. If you find one of these impost-” The PA system crackled out.

The dropship was silent for a few seconds. 

Then chaos ensued.

“Imposters? Kill us?”

“How the hell are we supposed to find them before they kill us?”

“Turn this ship around!” 

Blue looked over to his sons. They stared up at him with wide, curious eyes. 

“Daddy? What’s happening?” 

He felt a pang in his chest at the thought of failing them, at letting these so-called imposters win, but pushed it aside. He had to stay calm if he wanted them to remain blissfully unaware. 

“It’s nothing, kiddo. We’ll be there soon,” he said, fighting to act as if he didn’t just learn he’d more than likely get killed within the next week. 

~~~

Yellow shifted in his seat. It really would’ve been nice to know there were alien imposters on this ship before he signed up for this maintenance-mission-turned-slaughter-fest. Maybe if he could finish things quickly he could avoid getting killed. Hopeful, he pulled up the pre-assigned list of tasks on his tablet.

Navigation: Stabilize Steering  
Reactor: Unlock Manifolds  
Medbay: Inspect Sample  
Storage: Fuel Engines (0/2)  
Electrical: Fix Wiring (0/3)  
Admin: Swipe Card

So much for getting this done quickly. He’d just have to be careful then. Trust no one, watch your back, all that jazz. 

Sooner than Yellow would’ve liked, the dropship docked. He patted his son’s head, feigning confidence more for his own sake than anyone else’s. 

“You ready, little man?” 

“Yeah!” 

~~~

Blue stood slowly, stretching his back. Seven and a half hours later, here he was. Pulling one child onto his shoulders and taking the other’s hand, he stepped off the dropship. He entered a room that looked like the cafeteria. Five tables were spread around the room, all his fellow crewmates gathered around the center one. 

For the first time, he took them all in. 

Cyan stood with both hands on her hips, with a plant-like structure sticking off her helmet. Blue never really understood why so many crewmates wanted hats. They weren’t very functional, not to mention some would drain his meager bank account. Plus, his son had a particular affection for sitting on his head. 

Yellow’s banana peel was slipping precariously off his helmet as he glanced down at his tablet, but he didn’t seem to care. He threw a skeptical glance at Blue then returned to his tablet. 

Red, Green, and Purple were talking about something Blue couldn’t hear. Pink was following Orange in a way that set him on edge. What if Pink was going to be the one to kill him?

Everyone else sppeared to be looking at the tasks they’d been assigned. Blue finally pulled his up. 

O2: Clean Filter  
Electrical: Calibrate Distributor  
Medbay: Submit Scan  
Upper Engine: Align Engine Output (0/2)  
Electrical: Fix Wiring (0/3)  
Admin: Swipe Card

Blue frowned. Fixing wires certainly didn’t sound like his strong suit. He was about to ask where everyone else needed to go, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to alert the imposters to his location. 

“We need a plan,” Pink said suddenly. “If anyone sees anything suspicious, press the emergncy button.” 

“That’s for emergencies, you idiot,” Red snapped. 

“I’d say aliens trying to kill us counts as an emergency!” Pink replied defiantly. “Back me up, Orange!”

Blue stared. Apparently, while he had been busy worrying, Pink was making friends. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal. Or maybe it was. 

“Yeah. I guess we need a way to account for emergencies.” Orange muttered. 

“Alright! Let’s move out!” Pink said. 

Blue sighed and steeled himself. He took in what was supposed to be a calming breath, and set out on his own towards Oxygen.


	2. Sus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All's going well until it isn't...

Blue pulled up the map of the Skeld on his tablet. According to it, he had taken the long way to O2, passing through storage on the way. He considered stopping in admin on the way, but there were too many people there for comfort. 

After what felt like forever, he reached O2, children in tow. Blue didn’t expect the filter to need much work, but when he opened it, he found it filled with leaves. Maybe it did need cleaning after all. 

Quickly, he scooped the leaves out and disposed of them. There. One task down, five to go. 

He passed Cyan as he went towards Shields. After that, he walked a little faster. Just to be safe. Just as he reached Electrical, he heard the Emergency Alert go off. His tablet flashed a notification.

Emergency: Report to Cafeteria immediately

Heart pounding, Blue glanced at the map and headed to the Cafeteria. When he arrived he did a quick count and realized he was the last here. 

“Now that everyone’s here, I called a meeting because Red was following me.” Pink announced.

“Seriously, Pink? I was going past security, same as you. Don’t accuse me for being something I'm not.” Red said, anger coating his voice. 

“What are we supposed to do with this information anyway?” Blue finally asked. He had been wondering about this ever since the announcement on the dropship. 

Everyone paused. 

“And how do we get rid of the imposters if we do manage to find them?” Black asked. “Or do we just tell them not to kill anyone anymore?” 

“Black has a point,” Lime broke in. “If we can’t find away to get rid of the imposters, we’re never going to make it off this ship alive. 

Green stared off towards the airlock. “I think I have an idea,” she said quietly. 

“You can’t be serious.” Cyan said. It was a statement, not a question.

“It’s really one of our only options,” Green replied.

“You’re telling me we’re just going to flush whoever we think is the imposter out the airlock?” Purple shouted. “In that case, I think it’s Cyan! Let’s throw her out!” 

“What? No! Why me?” Cyan cried. 

“That’s exactly what an imposter would say!” Purple countered, crossing his arms smugly. The room burst into arguments, people wildly accusing each other.

“Guys, stop!” Yellow shouted over the commotion. “If we can’t even get a sentence out, how do we expect to find the imposters?” 

“I guess he has a point,” Purple said begrudgingly. “But Cyan is still sus.”

“We’ll vote. Majority wins. If there’s no one to vote, just skip.” Orange suggested. Blue and a few nodded in agreement. 

“Ok.” Pink inhaled deeply. “I just panicked and didn’t know what to do. Skip this, I guess, but keep an eye on anyone who seems fishy. I’m skipping. Everyone?”

The nine who remained exchanged a glance that said, “I’ll skip”. 

“Alright,” Pink said. “No one’s ejected. This time, anyway. Orange, stay with me. It’ll be less scary with two of us.” 

Orange nodded in agreement, and Pink set off towards the left, Orange close behind. Blue glanced down at his tasks again. He planned to submit his scan in Medbay, but once again it was full of people and he instead decided to head to Electrical. 

He spent nearly half the walk there glancing behind him. He let out a sigh of relief when he finally reached Electrical and found he was alone. It took a while for him to find the distributor, and even longer to get those pesky rings to line up just right. Five attempts later, he was finally able to cross a second task off his list. 

“Two down, four to go,” he muttered, then set off towards Admin. Then, without warning, the ship descended into darkness.

~~~

Green was in Storage when the lights went out. 

“Hello?” she tried. She felt her daughter tugging on her arm, and pulled her closer. “It’ll be ok,” she whispered. 

Green pulled up her map. She assumed the wiring or whatever for the lights would be in Electrical. It only made sense. She used the faint light from the screen of her tablet to get a little light. 

“Ok,” she said to herself over and over. When she finally found her way to Electrical, Lime, Red, Cyan, Orange, and Pink were already there. They seemed to be in an argument about how to fix the lights. Green pushed herself to the front of the crowd, where Cyan was holding open what looked like a fuse box filled with switches. 

“Let me look at this,” Green said. She didn’t know much about anything electrical until the past year. She was really glad she’d jumped on the opportunity to learn a little bit about it. It was mostly for her parents, but who knew just how much it would help her back then?

She flipped a few switches around, and the lights flickered back to life. 

Her ears were met with the sound of cheers and clapping, and someone patted her on the back. 

“In case they go out again, just flip the switches so the buttons turn green.” She glanced around the crowd. “Wait. Where are Red and Lime? They were here just a minute ago.” 

“You’re right,” Cyan muttered. “Guess they left.” 

“Let’s go, Orange! I have to stop in Oxygen, then didn’t you say you needed to go to Admin?” 

Green checked her tasks. She still hadn’t completed any, since she was too busy trying to hide from any potential killers. Encouraged by what had transpired in Electrical, she decided to start exploring the ship a little. She hoped it wouldn’t be her undoing. 

~~~

Pink was almost to Oxygen when a coppery stench reached her nose. 

“You smell that?” she asked Orange, who replied with a nod. 

“Probably nothing. Come on, we’re almost there.” 

~~~

Blue was dismayed to see Yellow in Admin, impatiently standing next to a tablet mounted on the wall. Still, he went in and pulled out his card and went to insert it into the reader when Yellow decided to start a conversation. Great.

“This takes forever. You have to do it yet?” 

“Do what?”

“Upload data. Not to mention you gotta download it first. I feel like someone’s going to walk in and murder me.” Yellow glanced down at his kid. “Plus, taking care of this little guy isn’t easy.”

Blue nodded. “You’re telling me,” 

He swiped his card and made a face. 

Bad read. Try again, the machine read.

Too fast. Try again.

Too slow. Try again. 

He was about to complain to Yellow about it when a scream ripped through the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for coming back for the second chapter guys! as i said last chapter, these updates probably won't have a set schedule and i'll post them when they're finished. thanks for reading and i hope you enjoy! let me know who you think is sus in the comments!


	3. Eject

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> True intentions are thrown into question when a body is found... who can be trusted, and who can't?

Emergency: Report to Cafeteria immediately.

Blue frowned and felt his heart pounding in his chest. What had happened? And what was that scream about? Maybe he didn’t want to know, but he found his feet carrying him towards the Cafeteria anyway.

He was almost there when he noticed the stench. He squinted and swallowed. It was sort of metallic. 

He saw the source when he entered the Cafeteria. 

Orange was laying a body on the middle table, while pink was holding a terrified child in her arms. But his attention turned back to the body again, despite his best efforts not to.

It looked to be Lime, but it was hard to tell with all the blood marring the bright green of her spacesuit. As his eyes traveled up her body, past her knees, her waist, her body cut off with an abrupt slice. A bone which he was assuming acted as a spine stuck out of the top. Blue pulled his children close to his body. He didn’t want them seeing this. 

As his vision fixated on the drops of blood trickling out along the bone, he saw Cyan gag and rip off her helmet as she ran for the trash can. 

“We f-found it in o-Oxygen,” Pink said. Her body was shaking. “Orange and I.” 

“I still think it’s Cyan,” Purple said. 

“I kinda agree with him,” Black said. “Cyan, where were you when the meeting was called?” he continued in an accusatory tone. 

“I was in Upper Engine, I think,” Cyan said, panicked. 

“You think?” Purple shot back. 

“I don’t know, aren’t you a little lost too?” Cyan exclaimed, throwing her hands up. 

While Cyan, Black, and Purple formed their own little argument, Green took charge of the discussion. 

“So we know Orange and Pink were together the whole game, right?” 

“Yeah, I saw them once or twice,” Yellow said. “I was in Admin with Blue.” Blue nodded in agreement. 

“When the lights went out, I was fixing them with Cyan, Lime, Red, Orange, and Pink.When we got them back on, Lime and Red were gone, and now Lime is dead.” Green said. 

“I didn’t kill anyone! If you ask me, it’s Green! Anyone else find it a little sus how she remembers exactly who’s in Electrical, and noticed that Lime and I left? Who says Lime and I even left together?” Red shouted, clearly not pleased with this accusation. 

“Red sus,” Green said, earning a few nods of agreement. “We know it wasn’t Orange or Pink, because they were together the whole time. Yellow and Blue were in admin, so they can probably be ruled out too. That leaves Red, Cyan, Purple, and Black.” 

“And you,” Red added. 

Green glared. “I’m going to have to vote Red on this one.” 

“I’m with Green,” Orange said. 

“Same here,” Blue added.

“I don’t know,” Pink said. “I’ll skip.” 

“I’m skipping too, and if you all could stop falsely accusing me, that would be great. I didn’t killer her, I swear!” Red growled. 

“I’m voting Red,” Yellow decided. 

“Cyan sus,” Purple said. “I’m voting her.” 

“Me too,” Black agreed. 

“I’m voting Red.” Cyan said. 

(Total Votes:  
Red: 5  
Skip: 2  
Cyan: 2)

“Well, that settles it. We’re ejecting Red.” Green said. 

“Wait, what? Why me?” Red asked, stepping away from the group. 

“You got the most votes, Red,” Cyan said. “We already decided that means you’ve got to go.” 

“No, wait, I can explain!” Red countered. 

“Explain what? That you murdered Lime?” Yellow spat. “Let me guess, it was ‘for the good of the crew.’” 

“Don’t do this! Please!” Red screamed as Green and Yellow each took one of his arms and hauled him towards the airlock. He managed to throw Yellow off for a minute, but he wasn’t able to break away from Green. 

Blue stared blankly as the doors to the airlock slid open and Green and Yellow threw Red to the floor inside. He made a run for the door, but they were closed and he made a bone-shattering impact against the glass. 

“Please! Let me out! Help me!” Red screamed, getting more hysterical by the moment, which Blue didn’t believe was possible. He banged his fists against the glass. “You don’t have to do this! I didn’t kill Lime, I swear it on my life!” 

Orange stood with his hand on the lever to release the airlock. 

“Don’t swear on something you’re about to lose.” 

Then he released it, and Red’s screams were lost in the void of space. 

~~~

Orange’s hand on the lever. 

It moving down.

Down.

Down. 

It was all in slow motion. If only they had listened to him. He had barely even seen Lime after they left the meeting, so he couldn't have killed her even if he wanted to. Sure, he and Lime had both left Electrical at the same time, but she went to Oxygen. He was in storage. 

He hadn’t lied; it wasn’t him. He hoped they were happy now.

~~~

“So… what now?” Blue asked slowly. 

“We keep going,” Yellow said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thanks for reading! things are going to start getting spookier after this. sorry this chapter is a little short, but this is the best ending i could get for it without the chapter turning into a mini-novel, lol. hope y'all enjoy it and see you next chapter!


	4. Stack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With another murder, the crew struggles to find the murderer in the crowd.

Orange adjusted the plunger on his head. The electronic sign reading ‘airlock’ was displaying a new message now:

Red was An Imposter.  
2 Imposters remain. 

Pink whooped and smiled. “Revenge for Lime!” she exclaimed. Orange gave her a tiny smile in return. He had never really been one for celebration, especially celebration of flushing someone out an airlock. Though he did suppose getting one of the imposters of the ship was something to celebrate. It’d certainly make his job easier. 

“Where to next?” he asked Pink. 

“Hmm.” She pulled up her tasks. “I have to stabilize steering in Nav. You?” 

“Yeah, I have to download data there. Let’s go.” 

Orange considered himself more of an introvert, but he didn’t mind Pink. Compared to Blue’s ever-present gloominess, Pink’s excited demeanor was a nice change of pace. It could just be her attempt at levity in a less than ideal situation, though. Regardless, he was glad for her company. 

Orange let Pink lead the way to Navigation. He was pretty sure he knew where he was going; he spent a good part of the seven and a half hours on the way to the Skeld studying the map. If his memory was correct, it was towards the front of the ship. That made sense, he guessed. A navigator wouldn’t be of much use if they couldn’t see anything. 

“Here we are!” Pink announced. Orange was more focused on the security camera fixed to the wall. He hoped if something went wrong, it wouldn't be on the cameras. From the state of Lime’s body, he didn't want to know what Red had done to kill her. 

Orange parked himself by the tablet and tapped a few buttons on his. There. Now he just had to wait. 

“Done!” Pink said, spinning around to face him. 

“I need a minute,” he muttered, tapping his tablet as if that would speed up the process. The download had just finished when the emergency alert went off. He was really starting to get sick of that sound, and he’d only heard it twice so far.

This time, he took the lead back to the Cafeteria. 

“The reason I called this meeting,” Purple began loudly.

“Yellow, Blue, and Black aren’t here yet,” Cyan pointed out. 

“Oh. Right.” Purple said. Once everyone had arrived a good five minutes later, Purple confidently restarted. 

“Cyan is sus,” he said.

“That’s it?” Yellow asked after a minute of silence. 

“Yes. Cyan is sus. How hard is that to understand?” Black defended. 

“You have literally no evidence,” Cyan said, sighing. “You’ve been starting a baseless rumor that I’m sus, apparently, since the minute we got on this ship.”

“Well, Black believes me.” Purple said matter-of-factly.

“That doesn’t change the fact you have no evidence,” Cyan 

“I’m tired of this argument. I’m skipping,” Yellow said.

“You and me both, Yellow. I’m also skipping.” Green agreed.

“It’s Cyan, I’m telling you guys,” Purple said defiantly. “Vote Cyan if you want to live!” 

“You sound like a politician,” Orange frowned. “I vote skip.”

“Well, I believe Purple.” Black said. 

“I can’t imagine why,” Cyan glared daggers at the two of them. 

“I’ll skip,” Blue said. 

(Votes:  
Cyan: 2  
Skip: 6)

“Can we eject Cyan anyway?” Purple asked. 

“No!” Cyan half said, half screamed. 

~~~

Cyan didn’t know who this Purple character was, but she knew she didn’t like him. 

He was always accusing her with no real reason except that she was apparently sus. She was really getting tired of that. She glanced at her tasks. One in particular caught her eye.

Medbay: Submit Scan

Maybe that could change Purple’s mind. 

“Hey, Purple?” she asked.

“Oh no. No. I don’t want anything to do with the imposter.” Purple said, immediately leaving the Cafeteria.

“Ok. Cool,” she muttered to herself. “I was going to ask if he wanted to watch me scan, but…” she realized she was talking to herself now. 

“Good talk.” 

~~~

Blue went to check what tasks he had only to find that comms were down. The only other task he remembered he had was aligning the engine. He was pretty sure he had to start in Upper Engine. Everyone would probably go to Communications. 

Blue found Upper Engine quickly. It helped he was only a fifteen second walk away, but it still brought him a sense of pride to be learning where things were. He lined up the engine precisely, and was so deep in focus he yelped when his tablet made a sound.

Then another.

Emergency: Report to Cafeteria immediately.

He shivered, partly because of the cold, partly because he didn’t want to know what happened now. Once he reached the Cafeteria, he joined the huddle that had formed. 

“Black got killed,” Yellow said. 

“Who did it?” Blue asked, heart speeding up.

“That’s the problem. We don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thanks for reading! sorry for another short chapter, they'll probably start getting longer now. i've been looking forward to getting to this part of the story and i hope you guys like it! so far i've had a lot of fun writing the different characters, and i know i say this way too much but thanks for reading! it means a lot that you guys decided to read this, and i really don't want to disappoint anyone with bad quality. let me know what to improve if you have any ideas :)


	5. Betrayal

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Blue asked. 

“It’s impossible to tell. Purple, Cyan, Pink, Orange, Black and I were all trying to fix comms. Next thing I knew, Black was dead. There were too many of us to tell who did it.” Yellow said. 

“It’s Cyan, I’m telling you.” Purple said, unsurprisingly. Also unsurprisingly, he was ignored. 

“So, Green and Blue weren’t there. We can rule them out for this time,” Pink said. “Orange and I were together all the time. That leaves Purple, Cyan, and Yellow.” 

“And Green,” Orange added. 

“But who says it couldn’t have been Pink or Orange, since it was in a crowd. It would’ve been easy to hide, since everyone was busy with comms.” Cyan interjected. 

“Cyan sus,” Purple declared. 

“Maybe Purple has a point…” Orange mused. After receiving a few skeptical glances, he continued. “Cyan was in comms, and they really don’t have any alibi.”

“I have a scan in Medbay,” Cyan piped up. 

“Smart. Aliens probably can’t complete a scan successfully. Someone watch Cyan scan next round.” Green said. “I’ll skip. We really don’t have any idea, and don’t want someone to get wrongly ejected.” 

“I’ll skip too,” Cyan said. 

“I’m going to vote Cyan until you all realize that I’m right,” Purple said, crossing his arms. 

“Skipping,” Pink said. 

“Skip,” Orange said. 

Blue thought for a moment. It could be Cyan. He still hadn’t forgotten that encounter back by Shields. 

Stop, he told himself. Purple is just making baseless accusations. That’s all. 

“Skip,” he ground out, hoping he wouldn’t regret it.

“I’ll also skip, and I’ll watch Cyan scan. It’s settled, then.” Yellow said. 

Blue immediately set out for Lower Engine, only to find himself accompanied by Yellow. He didn’t particularly want a buddy. But, he sucked it up and simply let Yellow come along for the ride. 

“So, where are you headed to? I just got done watching Cyan scan” Yellow asked.

“Lower Engine,” Blue replied, once again wanting no part of this conversation. 

“I have to go to Electrical. Fix wiring.” 

Blue didn’t reply, just stepped over to the spot on the engine where he had fixed the other one. It was the same routine as the last one. Not that he minded. 

“Hey! No, don’t touch that!” someone yelled. Against his better wishes, Blue went to investigate. It sounded like it was coming from Electrical. Didn’t Yellow say he was going there?

Sure enough, Yellow was hunched over a compartment filled with wires, pushing his child’s reaching hand away. Suddenly, Blue was grateful his sons normally kept their hands to themselves. He let out a little laugh.

“Crazy ones, they are,” Yellow said with a smile. 

Blue nodded. Maybe Yellow wasn’t so bad after all. 

~~~

Pink walked beside Orange on the way to Storage. She had to do something about emptying the trash, but she had no idea where she was supposed to do it. She pulled up the taskbar on her tablet. It was about half full. The faster the bar filled up, the faster they got back home. 

She jumped back, knocking into Orange as an alarm began to sound. The room lit up red in time with the alarm. 

“What’s happening?” she asked, panicked. 

Orange glanced down at his tablet. 

“It’s oxygen,” he said. 

“Huh?” Pink pulled up the map. “Didn’t they say two people have to get it?”

“Yeah, and there’s barely thirty seconds to fix it, so get moving!” Orange said, breaking into a run. 

Pink and Orange reached O2, only to find Green had already gotten it. 

“Get the other one! Go!” Green yelled. Pink sprinted. How much time left could there be? Fifteen seconds? Ten? Five? 

She nearly slammed into the wall in Admin, fingers shaking uncontrollably. “689002,” she muttered to herself in an effort to calm herself. 

“It’s ok, I got it,” Orange said, effortlessly typing in the code. 

“Thanks,” Pink said. “That was close.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I’m glad we’re sticking together,” Pink smiled. “It makes me feel less nervous.”

“Me too,” Orange replied. Then, more enthusiastically, “Where to next?” 

~~~

Purple ducked into Security and pulled up the cams. He saw Cyan running past Navigation, past Upper Engine, past Security… He hopped outside and stayed a safe distance behind so Cyan wouldn’t know he was following her.

Purple was determined to prove he was right. Cyan absolutely had to be the imposter. They were just so incredibly sus. He hadn’t seen Cyan do a single task, and he sure didn’t believe Yellow telling him she scanned. He wanted to see it for himself, thank you very much. 

He waited outside the door around the corner when Cyan entered Electrical. About fifteen seconds later she came out, and Purple ran in after. He didn’t know what he expected to find. Blood, a knife, a gun, even a body - anything that would prove he was right. 

He wasn’t expecting to find Electrical empty. He growled and stalked out, then returned to Security. She was smart, he’d give her that much. Or maybe she just realized he was following her. 

No matter. She was guilty until proven innocent in his mind.

~~~

Yellow crept into Storage behind Orange and Pink. Around him, the doors to Storage slid shut. His lip curled up in anticipation of what was about to happen. 

“Hello? What happened?” Pink asked, banging her fists on the door. “Huh. Guess it’s locked.” 

“Yeah,” Yellow said, causing Orange and Pink to jump. 

“Yellow? What are you doing here?” Orange asked slowly. 

“What needs to be done,” Yellow said simply. 

~~~

“What’s he talking about?” Pink asked Orange, just as Orange shouted, “Yellow, NO!” 

Pink didn’t see Yellow pull the gun out. 

Pink didn’t see Yellow wrap his finger around the trigger. 

Pink didn’t see the bullet flying for her skull. 

Pink didn’t see the look of pure horror on Orange’s face as he realized that he couldn’t stop Yellow in time.

~~~ 

Orange’s helmet cracked as a piece of Pink’s shattered one flew into it in an explosion of plastic, glass, and blood. He reached for his tablet, and had to yank it away before Yellow swatted it out of his hand.

“Don’t you even think about it,” Yellow growled. 

Orange sighed. “Why shouldn’t I? I had it handled.” 

“You obviously did not. There was no way you were killing her.” 

“I would’ve if you gave me a chance!” Orange shouted.

“You had your chance! You were with her the entire time!” Yellow reached for Orange’s tablet again, but he twirled around and reported the body as the doors unlocked. 

~~~

“It’s Yellow,” Orange said, breathing heavy. 

“What? You know it’s Yellow?” Cyan asked, shocked. 

“Now we have two people like Purple, running around accusing random crewmates.” Yellow scoffed. 

“I still think it’s Cyan,” Purple announced. 

“So you’ve said,” Cyan muttered, glaring daggers at Purple. 

“This is different. Yellow killed Pink. I saw.” Orange said. “He wants - wanted - to get rid of us because he knew we couldn’t be accused because we were together the whole time.” He didn’t think this was true, since Yellow wanted to kill everyone. 

“I don’t know. Seems kinda sus.” Green said. 

“Please. Trust me. I saw Yellow shoot her in the back of the head.” Orange pleaded. “I vote Yellow.” 

“I’m voting Cyan,” Purple said, though Orange was pretty sure he was going to say that. 

“You know what? I believe Purple. Cyan is sus.” Yellow said. 

“I’m voting Yellow,” Green said. “You better not be wrong, Orange.” 

“I don’t know,” Cyan said. “Yellow doesn’t seem like the kind to kill someone. He’s had plenty of chances to kill me, but hasn’t. I’m skipping. 

Orange’s heart was beating so hard he could feel it in every corner of his body. Did he actually turn in his fellow imposter… for a crewmate? For a dead crewmate? He shook his fists out. He could handle this. He had gained their trust by staying without Pink, whether they consciously realized it or not. 

He needed Blue to vote Yellow. 

For Pink. 

~~~

Blue didn’t want to believe Yellow was an imposter. They had talked several times. In fact, Blue had been starting to think that maybe he and Yellow could be maybe-friends. He wanted to vote Skip, or Cyan, or anyone but the person who could’ve killed him, but didn’t.

Then he noticed the dead crewmates’ children all sitting around the table. 

That could be his kids, but he had just been lucky not to have met the same fate. He looked over at Yellow. 

“You know it’s Cyan,” Yellow said. “Come on. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve by now.” 

Blue glanced down at his children and knew what he had to do, whether he liked it or not.

“I’m voting Yellow,” he said.

For his kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey again! thanks for reading! i tried to make this chapter longer because i've been posting short ones recently. sorry for revealing the imposters so early, but it's shifting from a mystery to more of suspense about whether the imposters can get away with murder. i'm planning on writing a post-apocalyptic haikyuu au, so check that out if you're into that sort of thing. no idea when it'll be posted, but i'll try my best to keep updating quickly. thanks for reading, hopefully i'll have the next chapter up either this afternoon or this evening, depending on how much spare time i have.


	6. Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last remaining imposter struggles to keep their identity a secret.

Yellow scowled, disgusted. This couldn’t be happening. He had been so careful every time to make sure no one suspected him, and it all fell to shambles because of Orange’s inability to kill Pink. So Yellow had spared him the deed, and now was getting repaid with complete betrayal. 

Absolutely disgusting. 

They were supposed to be imposters together. And in less than five minutes Yellow’s whole plan came crashing down. Orange grabbed one of his arms and Green another, and Yellow froze. 

“Papa?” 

~~~

Orange stiffened, still hauling Yellow towards the airlock. Yellow was trying to break away, yelling back at the child.

“It’ll be okay,” he called over. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine!” 

“Fine after you kill another person!” Green snarled. 

“Please,” Yellow whispered to Orange, so quietly even Orange could barely hear it. “Please, I know you owe me nothing after that, but take care of him. If not for me, for him.” 

Orange gave an almost imperceptible nod and almost immediately after Yellow stopped his struggle. 

“Thank you,” he whispered back.

~~~

_“Aw, he’s cute!” Orange said._

_“Yeah. I picked him up at Polus about a year ago. Poor little guy was lost, only one there. I guess you could say I adopted him after that.” Yellow said, affectionately patting his child’s head. Orange couldn’t really say that he thought Yellow would have a soft side, but he was glad to know he wasn’t a total monster._

_“Does he get in the way a lot?” Orange asked._

_“Nah, he’s actually kinda helpful. He wouldn’t leave me alone after a kill, so I vented just to humor him. Turns out someone was coming.” Yellow replied._

_“Wow.” Orange said. He leaned down towards orange’s kid. “Hey, little guy,” The child ducked behind Yellow’s leg, earning a laugh from Yellow._

_“He’s still a little shy,” he explained._

_Orange smiled._

~~~

Orange snapped out of the flashback suddenly, and it took him a minute to realize what was going on. With the help of Green, he tossed Yellow into the airlock.

“Papa?” Yellow’s son asked again. 

“It’s going to be fine,” Yellow assured him, voice muffled by the closed doors. “I’ll see you again sometime, alright? You be good until I see you next.” Not ‘when I’m back,’ Orange realized grimly. 

“Ok!” came the reply, significantly more confident than Yellow sounded. Orange turned the child around when Green flushed the airlock.

~~~

“You stay here,” Orange said to Yellow’s kid. As much as he would like for him to tag along, he couldn’t have anyone becoming suspicious of him now. Treating an imposter’s kid like his own would probably be a red flag.

“When will Papa be back?” he asked. Orange tensed.

“I’m not sure,” he said. Sure, he was a ruthless imposter, but he wasn’t particularly fond of telling the kid his papa just got killed by popular vote. 

Orange had seen Purple going off towards Navigation, so he headed that way. If anything, Cyan would probably be blamed for this murder. 

Orange took a detour and stopped in Navigation to look around. Once he was sure he was alone, he hopped into the lower vent and went to Shields. Again making sure no one was around first, he stepped out and checked Communications for Purple, but there was no sign of him anywhere. 

After a few more minutes of not seeing anyone, Orange decided to speed things up a little. Dimming the screen of his tablet and opening the ship’s basic software, he primed the reactor for a meltdown. He grinned as the sirens came on and the lights flashed red, then stopped at the front of Lower Engine. With the meltdown clock reaching twenty seconds left, Cyan ran in. Orange went in after her.

~~~

Cyan slammed her hand onto the scanner. 

“Hurry up!” She screamed at Orange, who was busy looking at Purple for some reason. Orange pressed his hand to the other sensor. 

Reactor normal, the text at the top read. 

Cyan sighed as Purple gave her the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. 

Idiots. She lived with idiots.

~~~

Orange followed Purple towards Electrical, but tried not to make it obvious. His attempt to kill someone at the meltdown had failed spectacularly, as Purple had come from security just as he was about to kill Cyan. 

He crept in behind Purple and pulled out his knife. 

“For Pink,” he whispered as he plunged the knife into Purple’s back one, two, three, times. He pulled it out with a squelch, blood dripping from both Purple and the knife.

~~~

Blue stepped onto the platform in Medbay. He stood unsure for a minute until his tablet prompted him with a notification.

Begin scan? Yes/No

He selected Yes, then a flat green circle formed at his feet. He stayed as still as he could, but he was practically shaking. Who was still alive? Him, Orange, Green, Purple, and Cyan. Could that be it? Just five? They had started with ten. Now, not only was that number halved, but a single imposter was still hiding somewhere in the crowd. 

Blue practically jumped off the platform when he was done. He had two tasks left. He could’ve been done by now, but he was too busy looking behind himself and hiding every two seconds. 

“Keep going,” he told himself. 

hen his tablet flashed a new notification:

Emergency: Report to Cafeteria immediately

It didn’t take long for everyone to arrive. Blue noticed Purple’s absence first. 

“Purple was dead in Electrical,” Orange said. “I’m beginning to think he was right. He’s been accusing Cyan the whole game and now he’s dead? That’s sus,” 

“Ugh, now you’re accusing me. Can’t I catch a break?” Cyan moaned. 

“Orange sus,” Green said. 

“What?” Orange asked, not liking this new turn of events. 

“Think about it. He was with Pink the whole game, then Pink is dead, and Orange just happened to know exactly who killed her.” Green elaborated. “Like I said. Orange sus. Case closed. I’m voting Orange,” 

“Wait a minute. Why would I kill Pink? We were friends. And second of all, why would I help Green fix the reactor if my goal was to kill us all?” Orange defended. “I’m skipping.” 

Blue frowned, before deciding, “I trust Green. I’m voting Orange.” 

“As much as I hate to admit it, Orange has a point. I’m skipping too.” 

The four of them met eyes for a minute. 

Then they split up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! thanks for reading! i'm planning on setting up the draft of my haikyuu story tonight, so instead of posting two chapters for this every day, i'll probably do one for this one and one for that one. this story will probably only have about two to three more chapters, or possibly one longer one. i hope you guys enjoy, and see you next chapter! :)
> 
> p.s. sorry this took so long to post, but i accidentally deleted half of this chapter... whoops. so i had to rewrite that, and manually format the italics... yay.
> 
> p.p.s. check out the story i'm collabbing on with ixm357!


	7. Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With numbers smaller than ever, can the crew defeat the single remaining imposter?

Orange walked to admin after checking on Yellow’s kid. He seemed fine, and much to Orange’s relief, didn’t ask about his papa again. He stalked down the hall towards Navigation. Two kills. That’s all he needed before he was guaranteed the win. Easy enough. 

Except he couldn’t find anyone. 

Blue had gone this way, Orange had thought. Apparently, Blue had changed directions, or Orange was starting to imagine things. 

Orange hopped in the vent after checking to make sure no one was on cams. He peeked in Admin, but no one was there. He popped out in the hallway, after making sure no one was in the Cafeteria. What a pain. 

Orange checked Communications, but no one was there. Where were these idiots? The Skeld wasn’t even that large. Well, as far as spaceships go, it wasn’t large. He checked in Electrical, also finding no one. 

Orange pulled his knife out and cleaned off the blade. After putting it away, he pulled out his tablet. 

It was time to make things interesting. 

~~~

Blue kept with Cyan. With so few people left, anyone could be the imposter. Almost anyone. Blue had seen Cyan do a task, and officiated their partnership by completing a task of his own. So it was down to Green and Orange. Blue was beginning to become suspicious of Green. He didn’t know why, though. Maybe because Green had taken charge of too many meetings. Or knew the right thing to vote every time. 

“So,” Cyan said. “It’s one of them.” 

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Blue said, then shared his theory about Green. 

“It’s reasonable,” Cyan considered. “I think it’s Orange. I don’t know why, he just…” She shook her head. “I don’t know who to believe anymore.” 

“I know I said I trusted Green last round,” Blue said, “But I don’t know what to make of her now that there’s only four of us.” 

Cyan sighed. “As much as I hate to say this, we could wait it out. See who’s dead next and then we’ll know who it is.” Blue blinked, and Cyan started to backtrack. “I know, it’s a terrible idea, but-” 

“No, it’s not. It’s the surest way to figure out who it is. How many tasks do you have left?” Blue asked. 

“Just one. You?”

“Yeah. Where’s yours?” 

“Admin. Swipe card.” Cyan said. 

“I’m fixing wiring in Storage. Right across the street,” Blue said. “Since they’re so close, we can probably do them both at once.”

“Yeah. Then we just wait it out,”   
~~~ 

Orange grinned wickedly when he saw Green walk by. He slipped out of Security, right behind her. He walked as fast as he dared to catch up.

She hadn’t heard him, or even noticed his presence, until he dragged his knife across her throat. She let out a tiny gasp before the blood began running out of her throat. Orange clamped his hand over her mouth as she began choking on her own blood. 

“It… was you,” she murmured in between coughs. Then she fell still. Orange checked her for a pulse, and found none. He hadn’t expected her to live, but it was nice to be sure. 

He left her body in Lower Engine and locked the doors behind him, still covered in Green’s blood.

One down, one to go. 

~~~ 

Blue touched the tips of the wires together and almost dropped them when they produced a spark. 

“Relax,” he told himself. “Hey, Cyan?” 

He was about to check on her before the doors to Storage closed. “Cyan?” he called, more anxious this time. He took a few steps back, pressing his spine into the crates stacked in the middle of the room. 

“Cyan isn’t here, but I am,” he heard a familiar voice say. 

Orange. 

“Cyan! Cyan, it’s Orange! It’s Orange! Call a meeting, anything!” Blue screamed. He heard footsteps and practically flew around to the other side of the crates. 

The doors slid open and Blue squeezed out as soon as the space was wide enough, screaming for Cyan to do something the whole time. 

Blue swiped frantically on his tablet, trying to call a meeting, but he couldn’t without stopping, and there was no way he was chancing Orange catching up. He sprinted through the halls until his tablet flashed a notification for a meeting.

It was the best thing he’d ever seen.

~~~

“Blue was chasing me,” Orange claimed.

“The hell I was,” Blue replied. 

“Orange, you’re not convincing me. I was with Blue the whole time except for when the doors locked, so he couldn’t have been the imposter. Where’s Green?” Cyan asked, looking around. 

“I was about to report her body when Blue came along,” Orange said.

“Drop the act,” Blue said. “If anything, you just confirmed our theory. I’m voting Orange.” 

“Skipping,” Orange frowned.

“Orange,” Cyan announced smugly. “See ya.” 

Then Blue shoved Orange into the airlock and flushed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! thanks for reading! this might seem like the last chapter but i’m planning on doing an epilogue sort of thing, so stick around for that. this was a ton of fun to write and people liking it only made it better. the kudos and comment mean a lot, so thanks for those! see y’all next chapter! support dad of two for life!


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events on the Skeld, the survivors return home... and receive an offer from the head of MIRA himself.

Blue slumped down, exhausted. 

Had they done it?

Had they really done it? 

The text above the airlock flashed:

Yellow was An Imposter. 0 Imposters remain. 

Blue whooped, and when Cyan went in for a hug, he didn’t resist. They were safe now. No imposters trying to kill them. No having to worry about crewmates wrongly accusing them. No constantly looking behind their shoulders.

It felt good, so good. 

“We did it,” Cyan whispered. Then, more confidently, “We did it!” 

“Did what?” Blue’s son asked, tugging on the arm of his spacesuit. 

Blue laughed as Cyan collapsed beside him on the bench. “Beat the imposters,” he said, only slightly hysterical. 

“Oh. Ok!” he chirped back. 

~~~

As the dropship docked, Blue stepped onto solid ground for the first time in a week. Due to technical errors, he and Cyan were stuck on the Skeld until MIRA was able to secure a new dropship to bring them back. The technical issues that cut the PA system on the ride there apparently made the dropship “unusable”, so they had to wait until MIRA sent a new one from HQ, a good four days journey even on the fastest ship they could get. 

Much to Cyan’s protests, he had brought all the kids of the fallen crewmates back with him. Though it made him uneasy, he had brought back Yellow’s kid too. He couldn’t bear to leave them. Maybe it was because he had kids of his own and he couldn’t imagine deserting them anywhere. He consoled himself by saying that it was Yellow who had committed the murders, not Yellow’s son. It only partially worked. 

Blue smiled and shook hands and chatted after stepping off the ship, sticking close to Cyan all the while. Cyan introduced Blue to her parents, and they gave him profuse thanks for keeping their daughter safe.

He didn’t have the heart to tell them he had only really even stayed with her after Purple was killed.

Purple. 

He had never thought he’d miss Purple’s baseless accusations, but he found himself wishing Purple had made it back. Wishing everyone had made it back. He shook his head and leaned against the wall. Out of the ten people who boarded the dropship, only two came back. Somehow, miraculously, he was one of them. And yet he still didn’t believe all of it had actually happened. 

Lime’s dismembered body, cut in half. 

Red getting sucked out the airlock and into the void. 

Wandering in the dark.

Almost running out of oxygen. 

Orange, covered in blood, locking him in storage.

Orange trying to kill him. 

The memories all flooded back at him in a wave he couldn’t stop. It took him a minute, but he was able to pull himself together. Mostly. 

Now that he had time to think over what had happened, he became more and more aware just how horrifying the whole ordeal had been. The adrenaline was finally wearing off and he was going into what he assumed was shock. 

“Hey. You good?” someone asked. He looked up to see Cyan. 

“Not really,” he said. 

“Ah. Well, you know what?” she said, sitting down beside him on the floor, “We’ll get through whatever it is. If we got through alien imposters together, we can probably handle anything.”

“You think so?” Blue asked with a weak smile.

“Yeah,” Cyan replied. “I do.” 

~~~

Blue shifted in his seat next to Cyan. The events of the Skeld were now six months behind them, but Blue was still having nightmares about it. He’d been seeing a therapist, but it hadn’t helped much.

Now, as the two of them sat in the head of MIRA’s office, they found themselves together against the odds again. 

“I realize this is a lot to ask of you, especially considering your… past experiences… with the subject matter.” the head paused. “I hate to be so blunt, but are you up for another run?” 

Blue looked at Cyan. 

Cyan looked at Blue. 

The head of MIRA had just asked them to go to HQ to weed out imposters. And despite his friendly and caring tone, when the head of MIRA asked you to do something, you did it. 

Blue met eyes with Cyan and said what they had planned when they first learned of this meeting.

“We have conditions,” he said simply. “And expect them to be fulfilled.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for seeing this to the end!!! when i started planning and drafting i never thought i would actually finish it, nonetheless have readers. i actually enjoyed writing this so much i’ve decided to make a sequel on the MIRA HQ map, as the epilogue hints. hopefully i‘ll see you guys there, and i can’t thank you enough for supporting this story! <3
> 
> for those of you interested in the sequel, i will probably start planning within a few days and have the first chapter out by the end of the week. hope you enjoy and stan dad of two!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading guys :) i hope to post the next chapter within a week. i'll try to update as often as possible, but i can't make any promises.


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